Thank you for that kind introduction. I welcome this opportunity to address state lawmakers. For too long, you have been the leading yet underappreciated stewards of education reform. It is sometimes said that governors get the headlines and legislators get the headaches. There is a lot of truth to that.

Thank you for that kind introduction. It is a special pleasure and opportunity for me to meet and speak with so many early childhood educators, advocates, and researchers. More than a half century ago, Franklin Roosevelt said that the "destiny of American youth is the destiny of America." Each and every day you help to fulfill that destiny.

Thank you so much for the generous introduction. It's a pleasure and honor to be addressing this conference of the Harlem Children's Zone. HCZ, and its founder and extraordinary leader, Geoff Canada, have produced one of the most remarkable anti-poverty community programs in the nation's history.

I am thrilled to be here to speak to the New England Board of Higher Education. Most of you here today share my priorities and I believe that together we will be able to meet the many challenges we face in today’s economy.

First, I would like to start with the story of how I got my present job at the U.S. Department of Education.

Good Morning. Thank you for inviting me here today. It is an honor to sit here in this room with our nation's leading scientists and engineers. You're the experts in your field, the people the president trusts to build an agenda for science and technology and to advise him, me, and my colleagues in the Cabinet.

It's an honor and pleasure to be here at Columbia Teachers Collegethe oldest, largest, and most storied graduate school of education in the United States. Here in this citadel of teacher preparation, where giants like John Dewey played such a formative role, I've come to speak to you today about the need for a sea-change in our schools of education.